In Memory of Ane Li @ane_li

Last week, nail art community has received a devastating news that one of the amazing nail artists, Ane Li @ane_li passed away due to the loss of battle with depression. She was only 18 years old. I have never talked to her personally, but I've followed her Instagram and YouTube channel and was always in awe of her talent. It truly makes me sad that we will never get to see any more of her beautiful creations. I'd like to thank her for inspiring so many of us, and for showing us her amazing technique in nail arts.After we heard the news, Ane's fans on Instagram decided to honour her memory by doing a recreation of her mani, and post it on July 25th which is Ane's funeral day. You can see the creations under the hashtag #sharingtheloveforaneli. Mary @dreamyMM will be doing a collage & slideshow of some of those recreations, so check her account also.I'm actually away from home with only a limited nail art stuff with me, but I decided to do a tribute mani as well. So here's what I've created.

Base is one thin coat of Picture Polish Lakodom. I stamped an ornamental pattern from Moyra Oranament 3 plate using Messy Mansion Chalk. I placed a circle tape near cuticle, then applied Cirque Reflektor. Finished off with matte topcoat.

I wish I could use a denser stamping image close to the original look, but I only have a few stamping plates with me so not much choice here. I also haven't brought any gold polish, so replaced that with silver.

By the way, this is Cirque Reflektor on it's own. If I remember correctly, this is 3 coats with no topcoat. I bought this from Femme Fatale Cosmetics a while back, but haven't got around to post it till now. It's a super bedazzling silver flakie, and couldn't help looking at my nails all day.

So this is what I received. I was sent 2 of those, but they are both the same so I'm only showing one set here. The product page is here and the set is priced at $8.99. The set contains 1 XL size clear stamper with a lid and a plastic scraper.

The stamper head is 3.5cm in diameter (bottom right). My nail is about 2.0cm long, and look how huge it is compared to my nail (bottom left). LOVE IT. Scraper is a pentagon-shaped, and each side is 3.0cm. Seeing that the stamper head is 3.5cm, I wish the scraper was a bit bigger than that. I'm not used to a small scraper anyway, so I'll stick to my credit-card size scraper.

付属スクレイパーは五角形で、各辺は3.0cm。スタンパーヘッドが3.5cmなのでもうちょっと大きいサイズだとよかったですね。どっちにしても小さ目のスクレイパーはあまり個人的に好きではないので、いつものクレジットカードサイズのスクレイパーを引き続き使って行く予定です。You know what I find most exciting about this stamper is? The fact that how short the holder is! Long holders make it a bit difficult to see through the image when stamping, so I've been using my masking tape holder (second from the right) to help see the placement of the image better. If you don't know what I mean, just check this post (scroll all the way down to the bottom).

このスタンパー、一目見て気に入った点はそのホルダーの短さ。ホルダーが長いと爪にスタンプする際に柄が少し見にくいので、これまではマスキングテープをホルダーとして使って柄を爪に配置しやすくしていました（右から２番目）。なんのこっちゃ？という方はこちらの記事をご覧ください（記事の末尾に記載）。The back of the holder is closed-in instead of open, and as you can see in the pic above, it's not crystal-clear but rather foggy. You can also see very fine lines that sort of hinder visibility (both of my stampers are like that). Sure, you can see the image okay thanks to the short holder, but this is one thing I would like to see improvement. The weak point of this closed-in holder when it comes to clear stamper is that if you accidentally spill acetone on it (which I hear happen with so many girls), it will make that part cloudy and makes it unable to see through. I would rather have the back open and potentially have some dust coming in, than have a closed-in back like this and struggle to see through.

How about the squishiness? It's not marshmallow but it's not hard either. If you read this post, this Pueen Chunky Stamper probably falls into 'Squishiness Level 6', about the same squishiness as Harunouta clear stamper.

So the most important part - quality. The image pickup test below was done with various stamping polishes and plates. I didn't wash or prime the stamper head, it was straight out of the box.

それでは最も重要な点、クオリティはどうでしょうか。以下のピックアップテストはさまざまなスタンピングポリッシュとプレートを使って行っています。スタンパーヘッドは洗ったりprimeしたりせず、箱から取り出したそのままの状態でテストしています。First test was done with Pueen Super Intense polishes & Pueen Love Box 2 stamping plates. Looks pretty good to me! I remember a normal size stamper couldn't pick up the whole image on the left because the image is quite big, but look how nicely it fits on this big stamper.

As you see, the stamper worked like a charm and I'm quite happy with the result. As I said before, I didn't need to wash/prime or anything. This is my first jumbo sized clear stamper, and I'm so glad it works great. I already used this stamper with my previous mani and I know I'll be using this a lot in the future.

Red x Gold Kaleidoscope Mani

Here's the first design I created using Cici & Sisi Acrylic Plate 'Wedding Season'. Middle & ring finger: I started off with 2 coats of Picture Polish Vegas. Then I made a stamping decal out of kaleidoscope-looking image on Cici & Sisi 'Wedding Season' using Messy Mansion Soft Gold, and coloured in with black polish. I cut the decal to fit nail size then applied it on these 2 nails. I drew black lines near nail tip, topcoated, and finished off with tear drop stud.

Thumb, pointer & pinkie: I started off with 3 coats of Picture Polish Lakodom. I made stamping decal with an ornamental image on the same plate with Messy Mansion Soft Gold, coloured in with Picture Polish Vegas. Applied decal, topcoated, and added stud (only on pointer).As you can see in my video, 2 designs from this acrylic plate stamp amazingly. The stamper I used for this mani is a clear stamper from Pueen Cosmetics, which was also sent for review. I haven't done the review yet but I'll show you very soon.It's really nice to have some colours on my nails! This is the first stamping mani in 3 months and I thoroughly enjoyed creating it. I haven't been active on my YouTube either, so when I posted a video after a long absence, I received a lot of 'Welcome back! You're missed' messages. I couldn't help being emotional really. I just want to thank everyone who stick around!

Cici & Sisi 'Wedding Season' Acrylic Plate Review

It's been a while since I last posted something here. Those who follow me on Instagram may know already, but I've been severely sick the last couple of months. Thank you for those who show concern by sending me IG messages, DMs & emails, and for those who patiently wait for my return. I'd also like to thank those ladies who did this amazing 'Get well soon Cassis' collage for me. These beautiful manis in the collage are all recreations of my past designs, created by 25 talented nail artists. You can see individual manis by checking #inspiredbycassis tag. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this and was deeply touched, so was my husband and my family back in Japan when I showed them this collage. I really felt loved and their sweet gesture truly cheered me up. I'm more up and doing things rather than just lie in bed, so I decided to catch those little opportunities to slowly write up this blog post.

What I'm showing you today is Cici & Sisi's first acrylic plate 'Wedding Season'. I received this plate for review in April, so this review is long overdue. Sadly, I turned down all the review requests/offers I received while I was sick, but I have a few that I accepted before that and this is one of them. Penny, owner of Cici & Sisi is kind enough to understand my situation, and agreed that I post this when I get well. Cici & Sisi is a Hong Kong based nail art supply store that has been around since 2013. I have heard of the brand but this is the first time I try out their products, and let me tell you they don't disappoint.Before I go into review, here are the links to Cici & Sisi store and SNS:

This is the plate I received. It's made of acrylic instead of the usual stainless steel. The plate itself is white in colour, and as you can see, the engraved part is see-through. Compared to stainless steel plate, it's super light - probably less than half the weight of the stainless steel plate of the same size.

Plate size is 14.5cm x 9.5cm. However, please note that this is a blogger sample and the actual plate you can buy from the store is different in size. This is sold as two separate plates, Wedding Season 01 and 02, each priced at $5.99. It looks like there are two more Wedding Season plates (03 and 04) added recently as well. Each full size image on the plate is 2cm x 1.6cm, very standard and versatile size.

The back of the plate is Cici & Sisi logo printed. Doesn't it look like it's floating a bit? So pretty.

プレートの裏側にはCici & Sisiのロゴが印刷されています。透明なのでちょっと浮かび上がっているように見えて綺麗ですね。Unlike metal plate, you don't have to worry about cutting your finger with the edge of the plate. This acrylic plate has a nice thickness and rounded corners.

メタルプレートと違い、プレートの端で指を切る心配はありません。このアクリル製プレートはしっかりとした厚みがあり、角も丸みを帯びています。

And here is the good view of the plate. Aren't they simply gorgeous? There are so many patterns I adore.

プレートの全体像がこちら。どれもこれもゴージャスで、私の好みの柄がいっぱい見受けられます。

By the way, here are the pics of the plates that you can actually buy. The top image is Wedding Season 01 and the bottom is Wedding Season 02. You may notice that there are some added images that the blogger sample doesn't have.

ちなみに実際購入できるプレートがこちら。上の画像がWedding Season 01で下の画像がWedding Season 02です。お気づきのとおり、2枚合わせるとレビュー用サンプルよりも柄が若干多いです。

So, we've seen that the images are drop-dead gorgeous, but how about the quality? The paper swatch below was done with a regular metallic polish (called AT Noumitsu MNE 06 that I bought at Daiso), and Messy Mansion pink soft stamper.

Very Impressive. Every image is etched perfectly, and every single line comes out so nice and bold. I was a bit sceptical about acrylic plate, but my first impression was far more than satisfactory. I was also happy about how easy it is to clean the plate. Metal plates tend to leave streak marks no matter how hard you try, but cleaning the acrylic plate is a breeze. One thing you might want to note though is that it is advisable to use acetone-free polish remover to clean the acrylic plate. Few uses of acetone on it probably won't hurt, but over time it can eat the acrylic away.